


Life's End

by ScorpioSnoopy666



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Caring, Comfort, Cuddles, Death, Fighting, Gen, Respawn headcannon is explained in the description, Sad but wholesome, Steve has had it rough, TW: Blood, TW: Violence, Tears, This is sad as heck, Wholesome, canon-divergent (slight), caring Enderman, end of life, sad/tragedy, shielding the dying, steve is dying, tw: major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorpioSnoopy666/pseuds/ScorpioSnoopy666
Summary: (Minecraft, Steve, and the mobs belong to Notch/Markus Persson. I only own the plotline of this story. This book is purely for fun and non-profit.)(Very slightly canon-divergent when it comes to death and respawning; the respawn isn't instant. Instead, the corpse remains dead for a bit, and the soul has to bargain/plead to be reborn again, or the person comes back as a ghost, but that's beside the point.)Steve had gotten lost on his way home after gathering some food and farming ingredients. As he tried to find his way home, he gets ambushed by an undead horde of zombies and skeletons, who ended up tearing and beating him to near death.However, Steve managed to crawl away, and was hiding and preparing for death, when he comes face-to-face with some unlikely company.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Life's End

Grey work boots trudged along the forest ground, grass crunching under the soles of the boots while mud and dew gathered on the hems of the traveller's dark blue jeans.  
A breeze blew softly through the man's dark brown hair and over his skin, cooling him down after the hot summer temperature from earlier that same day.  
In his hands, he held a slightly tattered map, his iron pickaxe -which was covered in rock dust and sand- tucked into the leather straps of his knapsack so it wouldn't fall out.

The man, known as Steve, glanced up at the trees, stopping and releasing a soft exhale, stars beginning to emerge into the evening sky, twinkling down like thousands of tiny lanterns.  
He smiled softly, shifting his backpack so it was secured more tightly against his back, one hand holding onto the map.  
All of a sudden, a rogue gust of wind blew through the trees and whisked Steve's map away into the lilac and blue sky. Steve tried to grab it, but to no avail.

"Damn it!" Steve groaned softly, hand covering his eyes tiredly, while he leaned against a tree, trying to figure out a way back to his home which was a good distance away in the next village over.  
He let his hand drop, folding his arms, a slight frown furrowing his brow.  
Pursing his lips a bit, he looked left and right, but wherever he looked, the layout of the forest seemed to be almost repeating again and again for miles, the long shadows of the trees making it increasingly difficult to mentally map out where the miner had found himself.

He walked a little further into the trees, using a spare torch for light in the ever-growing darkness, when he heard -and felt- something whiz by his ear.  
An arrow flew directly at a tree and stuck fast in the wood.  
Startled, Steve turned around, to see an enraged skeleton taking shelter under a birch tree, loading up its bow with another arrow.

"Shit!" Steve hissed, making haste in another direction, an arrow whizzing past his ear, almost making him run head-first into a tree.  
Sweat began to clam his palms, and his heartbeat quickened, pumping like a redstone piston.  
He kept sprinting and weaving through the trees, panic taking over his body and making him dash faster and faster into the woods, hoping he could at least find a place to hide, to calm down and refuel, before going to find his house after the chaos had died down.

No such luck.

Hand on his rusty pickaxe, he had been met with a horde of zombies, the drooling carcasses shambling towards him, their pitch black eyes filled with an expression that could only be defined as pure rage and insatiable hunger.  
Steve yelped, stumbling back and swinging his rusty pickaxe at the zombies, who groaned and kept stumbling forward, their rotting hands reaching out for him.  
He could smell their decaying flesh, and hear the rattling moans exiting their lips. Or what was left of them.

He swung his pickaxe one more time, the blade embedding itself in one of the zombie's arms, the affected undead hissing in pain, before it growled angrily at the terrified man.  
The horde crowded around him, clawing at his hands.  
Steve wanted to run, but could only stumble weakly, his legs shaking as he felt an arrow hit him in the back. He groaned in pain, tearing out the arrow and throwing it to the floor, only for the horde to grab onto his arms and begin to claw, bite and beat the lone miner to a bloodied pulp.  
Some skeletons joined, shooting him with arrows, their bony fingers plunging into his flesh as he screamed out in pain.  
When they'd had enough, the group ambled away for more targets, leaving Steve in a crumpled heap.

What little potions the human brought with him were smashed and scattered on the floor, his food and items strewn across the grassy ground.  
He groaned in pain, covered in blood, bruises and lacerations, finding just the minimal amount of strength to drag his bleeding body behind a bush. His breath felt laboured, his clothes were torn, and he was very very low on his health.  
No amount of healing potions would solve the battering he had taken, which had left him on half a heart, and even that meter was depleting.

It was then, and only then, as he lay on his side, gazing up at the trees, that he could see familiar pink particles floating gracefully into his field of vision.  
Oh no, not another mob. Not now. Not when he was so weak.  
A tear fell from his left eye, falling past the bruise before dripping on the earth below him.  
Everything was in agony, and he felt sick, and -not too surprisingly- a little dizzy.

He could hear it; an unmistakable Enderman-like coo coming from the tall being, its shadow over his.  
He was scared to look up, having remembered what had happened to other people who had looked into the eyes of an Enderman.  
More tears escaped from his eyes, and he began to tremble, feeling the presence of the Enderman was much closer.  
Steve coughed up some blood on the grass, shaking even more. Whether it was cold, fear, or his body reacting to the beating, he had no idea.

The Enderman let out another soft coo, scooping up the fragile looking human into its clawed hands, before sitting down where the human had previously laid.  
It purred a little, resting the dying human in its lap which was surprisingly warm despite the Enderman being so scaley.  
Steve wanted to run, but felt his legs tingle in a strange way, as if they had grown weaker than before. Not to mention his chest hurt like crazy.

He wheezed out a "w...why?....what?" quietly, looking up at the enderman weakly.  
Steve swore that he could hear it utter a gentle "sshhh..", its clawed fingers gently raking through his mussed up hair, getting the leaves and twigs out of his brunette locks.  
He wasn't sure what to do, or say at this moment, or even how to go about being cradled by an ENDERMAN! It was...it was supposed to hate him, wasn't it?  
If it did, why was it cradling him close to it, as if he was its young?

Questions.  
Questions raced through his head like no tomorrow, making him feel sick to his stomach.  
He couldn't even bring himself to move from where he was, not while the creature still had him in its -surprisingly gentle- grasp.

Another comforting purr and "sssh" noise came from the enderman, Steve trying his best not to choke on his own blood once more, a weak tear falling from his eye again.

He didn't want to be seen as weak, but...for some odd reason, he felt safe.  
Safe enough to cry. Safe enough to weakly reach up and give the enderman a faint pat on the arm, as if to thank it for staying with him.

This warrented yet another soft trill, though it sounded choked up.  
He looked, seeing magenta-coloured tears welling up in the loving being's purple eyes.  
Surprisingly, it made no move to attack this time.  
It only looked at him, tears dripping from its eyes onto the ground, lifting its head to check for any other enemies or for any signs of help from other endermen, turning its mournful gaze back to the dying miner.

"I-it...it hurts...." Steve wheezed, his breathing laboured, legs twitching as if he was trying to get up, to get help, to try and do something!  
He held onto the enderman's wrist, only for it to.....start humming.  
A calming, albeit solemn, tune. One that was reminiscent of a lyricless song he used to hear as a boy. One that would calm him when he was sad, scared, or tired.  
So very tired.

He listened to the enderman humming to him, the enderman wiping his own tears off his face before raising its hand to wipe its own tears, its humming -though it would waver with an occasionally whimper- never ceased, one arm cradling Steve at all times.  
He couldn't hear exactly what it was saying, but the tone of its 'voice' was that of quiet reassurance.  
One that signalled, "it's ok. It'll be ok..you're going to be alright. I'll be here."

Steve smiled weakly, most of his body seeming numb to the world.  
He felt sleepy.  
So very sleepy.  
The humming of the forgotten lullaby was calming his previously paranoid and panicked soul, his health was way too low to be fixed now.  
He heard the enderman choke back a sob or a cough, feeling its warm body shudder as his own body grew cold.

He was alright.  
He was finally safe.

Smiling weakly at his comforting saviour one last time, his grip slackened on its hand, as he laid his head back and closed his eyes.  
His breathing had become weaker....weaker still...his heartbeat fading in his ears.  
He could feel the warm summer air wash over him, hear the birds chirping.  
The rustle of the leaves, and the rippling of the river nearby.  
The twitter of bats, and the other mobs walking around, but most of all, the enderman's gentle voice.

Summoning up the last of his energy, his eyes still closed, he whispered out a faint "thank you", before finally succumbing to the deep void of sleep.  
The abyss without an exit.  
An embrace of darkness that not even a respawn could save him from, if there even was such a thing.

Steve's breathing and heartbeat fell silent, and his body became still, cooling in the night air.

It was a few seconds after this, the enderman let out a loud cry of anguish, hugging Steve's corpse close to its body.  
It gently rocked back and forth, weeping quietly, all on its own for a while or two.

Once it had regained control of itself, the enderman dug a deep trench big enough for the adventurer by the bush, gently lowering the corpse of the human into it before adding in the scattered items he had lost, his blanket wrapped around him by the extra-terrestrial palbearer.  
It buried him quickly, paving the grave with stone slabs it had found on the riverbank, marking it with a cross made from sticks, and a bouquet of orchids; the flora bore the same colour as Steve's shirt.

There, the enderman stood, for what felt like an eternity, until finally, reluctantly, it teleported away, Steve's blood still decorating its own hands.  
Its purple eyes now dry of tears, it saved the memory of the man's final resting place, rejoining the rest of its clan once more.

After a while, be it weeks or days, the orchids have wilted over time and due to the weather.  
However, as absurd as the mobs and future players thought it would be, there would always be someone, or something, replacing the blooms.

After all, Steve would have most likely appreciated someone still watching over him, no matter the type of mob.  
Surely, for the tall, shadowy mob, it would be a moment of closure for itself, and for the long-gone miner.  
The blooms would live on, as would the memory of the brave human, that laid forever sleeping beneath its blue petals.

**The End**


End file.
